Improvement in buckles for cotton-baling



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES R. HERRON, OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN BUCKLES FOR COTTON-BALING.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 172,434, dated January 18,1876; application filed December 20, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES R. HERRON, of Savannah, in the county of Chatham and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Buckles for Cotton-Baling; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making a part of this specification.

My invention has for its object the pro dnction of a buckle for cotton-baling which shall be strong and readily applied and detached; and it consists in forming the buckle of a single piece of metal, cut and formed as will be hereinafter more fully set forth, refererence being bad to the accompanying drawing, and in which Figurel is a plan view of my improved buckle with the opposite ends of a bale-band secured thereto. Fig. 2 is an cud view of the buckle alone, or looking at the edge of the metal composing the same. Fig. 3 is a section taken at the line 00 a ot' Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a view ot'a straight piece of metal of the proper size to form a buckle, provided with the necessary slot, and having the points at which it is to be bent represented by dotted lines.

The buckle is formed of metal of proper thickness to insure strength, and possessing suflicient malleability to be bent into the form shown.

In order to form the buckle I first take a piece of metal ot'the proper width and length, and, having cut a slot, (0, as seen at Fig. 4, I bend the strip at the points 1 2 3 4 5, (shown in dotted lines, Fig. 4,) so that the buckle will assume the shape represented by the outside lines I) b I) b, Fig. 2. That portion of the top of the buckle in front of the slot at, and marked 0 in the drawing, is then pressed down, as shown at Figs. 2 and 3, below the under side of the portion (1 in rear of the slot 0., leaving a clear space, 0, through which one end, A, of

the band is passed, lying under the portion d, and on top of the portion 0, when its extremity is bent and drawn back, so as to lie underneath the same, as clearly represented at Fig. l. The opposite end A of the band, having been passed around the bale, is bent similar to the end A, and passed in edgewise through the opening f between the ends of the buckle. The under end of the buckle is bent out of a straight line from the point 5, (which is in the same plane with the under side of the opposite end of the buckle,) to form a sort of guidelip to facilitate the passage edgewise of the end A of the band, which, when it passes the terminus of the opposite end of the buckle, is, by the expansive force of the bale, forced upwardly against the under side of the end A,

and prevented from being accidentally returned through the openingf.

It will be observed that when the bale, secured with my improved buckle, is put in the compress for the purpose of decreasing its size previous to tinalshipment, the band and buckle are relieved from the expansive force, and the end A may be readily slipped out" edgewise through the opening f. and again bent to shorten its length, and then returned.

It is very desirable in the handling of cotton, for the purpose of compressing it as described, that the end of the band may be cut or shortened and returned to the buckle in the quickest possible time, and at the same time be perfectly secure. All these requirements are fully met by a buckle constructed as I have described.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A buckle formed of a single piece of metal, cut and bent substantially as shown and described.

Witness my hand this 16th day of December, 1875.

CHARLES R. HERRON. 

